[Media press release – published in the industry's three primary publications]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Dave Whitaker
1.847.743.4326
American Hotel Register Company introduces
Clean & Safe to help hotels battle COVID-19 impact
Vernon Hills, IL – May 21, 2020 – American Hotel Register Company proudly announces the launch of Clean & Safe, an easier way for its hotel customers to find products that will help them meet new standards of cleanliness and safety. With the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) issuing its Safe Stay guidelines and major hotel brands announcing their own advanced cleaning protocols, the Clean & Safe section at americanhotel.com conveniently sorts the items properties need to prepare for returning guests.
“With Clean & Safe, we’re responding to our industry’s commitment to welcome guests back safely,” said Angela Korompilas, President and CEO of American Hotel. “We’ve bundled our cleaning solutions and protective products by property area, from Guest Rooms to Back of the House items, to align with the new cleaning processes of customers. By working closely with them, we hope to add to this collection based on their specific hotel needs.”
The Clean & Safe assortment already contains some new specialty items, such as UV sanitizing wands,protective acrylic shields, and custom signage. In fact, with the company’s sign shop and distribution centers remaining operational, American Hotel has also assembled custom kits to deliver on unique requests. Clean & Safe is the latest addition to the company’s What Matters Most campaign, a series of actions designed to better serve its customers during this time of uncertainty.
About American Hotel Register Company
American Hotel Register Company is the world’s premier hospitality supplier. With more than 150 years of service, American Hotel offers customers 70,000 products, 1,600 national brands, an expanding portfolio of eco-friendly products and best value items from its own Registry® brand. This women-owned and family-owned company delivers award-winning design and project capabilities and fast delivery from distribution centers strategically located throughout the United States and beyond. Learn more at americanhotel.com or call 1-800-323-5686.
[Weekly internal marketing email]
Your Hospitality Headlines
Week of November 23
Happy Thanksgiving…and Black Friday
Be sure to have a safe, healthy, and happy Thanksgiving! It’s important to enjoy some downtime because it’s your refreshed energy and ideas that will help us get stronger sooner.
Let’s also be thankful for the strong traffic we’ve seen so far in reaction to our Black Friday campaign. On Monday, we went live with the above banner on the American Hotel, Education, Healthcare, Government, and non-SCI Funeral homepages (excluding Avendra customers). This banner and its category tiles link to a new “Holiday Sales” page containing discounted products through the end of the year, as well as a brand new “Deals” page where BOGOs and other collection/item sales will be hosted. Take a look if you haven’t already and be aware this banner will be replaced by our Cyber Monday campaign on Monday.
Latest Industry headlines
1] Hotels adjust to accommodate safe Thanksgiving dining [Hotel News Now]
Some hotels in the U.S. are offering sit-down meals, room service, and to-go options.
2] Avendra shifts focus to help industry through pandemic [Hotel Management]
Avendra pivots to make sure hotels have everything they need to maintain safety.
Regardless of the short-term upgrade, the forecast for 2021 remains functionally unchanged.
4] How COVID-19 has changed travelers’ priorities [Hotel News Now]
Travelers are more interested in smaller hotels and short-term rentals.
Properties learn to adjust to what is typically the busy time of year.
Have news you want us to share?
Send to communications@americanhotel.com.
[Internal Strategy Overview - aBundle]
For more than 150 years, American Hotel has been adapting to the progress of hospitality. With aBundle, we once again respond to the changing needs of a dynamic industry.
promise & position
When it comes to outfitting any vacation place with the essentials, aBundle is simply a better choice. True to its name, aBundle is a handpicked collection of the items that great hosts depend on. From sheets to shampoo, we’ve got the goods to keep their property prepped for every guest type. We even offer smart product kits. As a single source for everyday supplies, we help hosts save a bundle of time, effort and money – allowing them to focus on other priorities that boost guest reviews.
customer profile
With our select grouping of products, aBundle caters to owners and hosts of vacation rental properties and B&Bs as well as Airbnb hosts, VRBO members, and members of similar vacation rental platforms. aBundle is also designed to be a resource to other pockets of this market, such as college students and their parents.
market advantages
At aBundle.com, customers can quickly find the right product and conveniently check out with a credit card. The site features consumer-generated product reviews, live web chat, delivery status, easy reorder and more. aBundle also offers free shipping on orders of $50 or more.
partner opportunities
This e-commerce site also delivers advantages for our supplier partners. Through market research, vacation rental hosts have told us it’s difficult to find high-quality hospitality products at competitive prices. This is exactly where we excel. By partnering with suppliers dedicated to meeting needs in a market segment that is reshaping the hospitality landscape, we are well positioned to win big with aBundle.
aBundle sponsors new show about vacation rental movement
aBundle.com, an e-commerce website that offers vacation rental owners, managers and hosts the product essentials critical to their everyday success, will sponsor a new digital series on the burgeoning vacation rental market.
Hosted and produced by Matt Landau, one of the world’s leading vacation rental coaches, “A Sense of Place” [senseofplace.show] is a new kind of travel show designed to familiarize people with the great vacation rental movement. The series will introduce viewers to amazing destinations through vacation rental properties and their incredible hosts. In the process, it offers travelers exciting ideas for their next adventure, gives seasoned vacation rental owners tips on improving and growing their business, and provides prospective hosts with the inspiration to start their own.
“As a new brand built specifically for the vacation rental community, we are thrilled to be working with the talented team at ‘A Sense of Place’,” said Alice Sadeghian, Director, Marketing at aBundle. “With Matt being an accomplished host himself, as well as a leading voice in this ever-evolving vacation rental community, we couldn’t have partnered with a more knowledgeable and enthusiastic personality.”
Landau launched one of the first vacation rental businesses in the emerging historic district of Casco Viejo, Panama, learning the challenges of community building from the ground up. He applied this real-world experience to the creation of a virtual community in the form of VRMB, an online resource for vacation rental owners and managers. When considering TV proposals from several major studios, Landau’s admiration for his own
community members became the impetus for “A Sense of Place” – with its view of professional vacation rentals through prototypes at the very top of their game.
“Because vacation rentals are relatively new, creating a set of baseline standards is critical to our collective success,” says Landau. “Working with a company like aBundle, which is ushering in a new era of professionalism, felt like a natural and exciting fit.”
While the digital series debuts Thursday, November 9, aBundle’s sponsorship begins in January and covers the final four episodes of the show’s introductory season. Episodes roll out weekly to a growing number of viewers ready to discover “A Sense of Place.”
[Internal strategy overview – The Gallery (luxury)]
Luxury Promise
The Gallery’s promise, its value proposition, is to deliver the art of luxury. Only the finest galleries bring the world’s choicest collectibles together in one central location. Just as sophisticated curators are ever in search of the next Rembrandt, Monet or Picasso, The Gallery is a class distinction between luxury vs. non-luxury products from American Hotel.
Led by an expert team of luxury concierges, merchants, market specialists and supply chain professionals – immersed in refined products and dedicated to personalized attention – The Gallery operates at the pulse of this burgeoning market. Luxury customers wholly believe their brand of guest experience is like no other anywhere in the world. So, by truly getting to know the distinct guest experience of each property they serve, the Luxury Concierge will tailor product and service solutions to meet exacting needs and ambitions. Successfully achieving our goal of exceeding expectations means delivering on every fine detail.
The luxury landscape has for years lacked a supply source that offers a complete package of cohesive advantages. The Gallery, with its diverse product offering and custom distribution structure, addresses the existing customer challenges in the luxury market. By utilizing the geographic expanse of our regional distribution centers, we are able to deliver product orders faster and more efficiently. We are also able to stock bulk orders in our distribution centers, which frees customers from supply management responsibilities and its associated costs. By offering this service of storage and delivery, customers are liberated from the constraints of order minimums and able to reduce the need to store excess product on their property. This inventory infrastructure is complemented by a personal concierge service that supports customer supply priorities and guides special projects, such as property openings and renovations.
There is no other resource like The Gallery, where luxury customers can achieve truly unique, specialized products and services that meet their one-of-a-kind requirements. But it takes a concerted effort to ensure that The Gallery lives up to its promise. We are all curators, responsible for the discovery, display, dialogue, and distribution of our luxury products and services. By blending the finest products and processes, we invite customers to experience the art of luxury, and profit from the art of luxury.
Luxury Customers
The Gallery caters to the refined tastes of luxury properties around the world. These four-, five- and six-star hotels include recognized independent, boutique and major brand hotels in New York, Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles and beyond. These upscale customers are known for a particular taste and style, which means they are adept at selecting products that contribute to a distinct guest experience. The Gallery exploits this market characteristic with its personal concierge model and the sourcing infrastructure to back it up.
Luxury Support Teams
Our luxury team will at some point turn to the special skills and support of virtually every department at American Hotel. From IT, Finance and SOS to Customer Solutions, Supply Chain and Marketing, our luxury strength lies in our ability to efficiently and effectively guide, respond, source, select and deliver.
This requires an extraordinary team effort. Our ability to tap into your specific area of expertise, and leverage the full resources of American Hotel, is what sets us apart in the luxury marketplace. We look forward to engaging you and your team in the services and strategies of The Gallery.
Luxury Solution Specialists
The professionals of our Customer Solutions Specialists team will be instrumental to the initial introduction and subsequent market advances of The Gallery. As central points of customer contact, they will work closely with our luxury leaders to ensure that valuable information is being shared accurately and efficiently. With a knowledge base that ranges from products to process, their primary focus will be to address individual customer needs and/or direct customers to the proper source. In this capacity, our Customer Solutions Specialists will also serve as key supporters of our Luxury Concierge members in the field.
